Online voters delivered a big D'oh for New Jersey, as the state limped to a ninth-place finish today in the contest to choose one of the nation's Springfields as host of the film set in the cartoon town of that name. The Union County township of 14,429 people - which submitted a video showcasing its "Simpsons spirit" last month - lost to Springfield, Vermont, pop. 9,300.

Starring Homer Simpson in a quest for a giant pink doughnut, Vermont's entry scored 15,367 votes in the usatoday.com poll, topping runner-ups Illinois (14,634) and Oregon (13,894). New Jersey took ninth (7,063) out of the 14 Springfields that submitted videos. There are more than 70 Springfields scattered across the country, but many - including New Jersey's other Springfield, in Burlington County - did not enter.

The results mean Springfield, Vt. will host the official The Simpsons Movie premiere at its 212-seat movie theater on July 21. New Jersey's Springfield and its unsuccessful siblings will have to settle for a consolation prize: "small" screenings of their own the night before the movie hits theaters nationwide July 27.

Bart Fraenkel, the deputy mayor of New Jersey's Springfield - who played a bit part in the movie with his aptly-named wife, Lisa - said the town gave its best shot.

"We thought we had a wonderful chance, even though we are a smaller town, because we have someone in the emergency squad named Apu," the cartoon's jolly convenience store clerk, Fraenkel said. "We thought we were right there in terms of mirroring the characters both in name and in action."

But he didn't begrudge Vermont its victory, praising the winning state's "wonderful" video and calling the contest "strictly a feel-good type of thing that brought community together."